CURRENT AVAILABILITY
POSITION 1 Housekeeper - Now
POSITION 2 General Maintenance - Now

We ONLY have availability for the above dates.
Read through our host listing carefully.
When you apply please give us the exact dates you would like to stay.
Minimum age = 20
Minimum stay = 4 weeks

INTRODUCTION
We are a small family business with three self-catering holiday cottages and occasional Bed & Breakfast in wings of Greta Hall, a 200 yr. old building in the centre of Keswick in The English Lake District.

In total we sleep 21 guests. 19 in three self catering apartments and 2 Bed & Breakfast.

We are a large family with 7 children (3 at university and 4 at home (16,10,7 & 5).

Greta Hall is ALWAYS a very busy house with guests, our children, friends. If this is a problem please DO NOT apply.

Both Scott & Jeronime are qualified teachers, in addition Jeronime is a qualified EFL teacher. We have spent most of our working lives overseas.

We take full advantage of living in the Lake District and love walking the Fells, sailing, climbing, Canadian canoeing, camping, fishing & BBQs on the Lakeside. We have most of the gear you'll need to enjoy the lakes and Fells.

Basically, if you can do it outdoors... you can do it in Keswick, the Adventure Capital of the UK,

We have large grounds with woodland, garden and vegetable garden as well as a dog, cat, chickens, ducks, rabbits, guinea-pigs & geese.

Workaways will have 2 days a week to explore the stunning countryside.

England - Keswick, Cumbria

We have two WorkAway positions available, Please let us know which one you're interested in;

POSITION 1 - HOUSEKEEPER
I need someone to take over from me (the tidying, cleaning, laundry & cooking) so I can focus on our business.

*General everyday cleaning of family home
*'Spring cleaning' of family home - I'm happy for you to reorganise anything so make the house runs more effectively!
*Family & guest laundry (some is sent to a contract laundry)
*Cooking of family meals
*Help with family pets which include ducks, hens, rabbits, guinea-pigs & geese, hamsters and 2 lovely rats!
*We all clean the guest accommodation on Saturdays
*Experience in painting and decorating would be an advantage
*Occasional babysitting/collecting children from the school bus

This work requires someone who is highly organised, uses their time effectively, is conscientious, has an eye for detail and has initiative.

It is REALLY important that you realise that you will be cleaning/cooking/laundry for 5 hours a day for 5 days a week.

POSITION 2 - GENERAL MAINTENANCE - HANDIMAN/WOMAN - BUILDER
Scott needs an experienced right-hand 'man/woman' to work on the repair and construction projects which we always have on.
At the moment the work we need help with are;

*Cleaning gutters
*Replacing shower units / toilets / sinks / tiling
*Exterior painting
*Interior painting and decorating
*Keeping woodland tidy
*General groundswork
*Managing vegetable garden & maintaining main garden
*Keeping recycling area clean and tidy
*Cleaning out animal sheds
*Maintaining wood supplies for use on open fires / wood-burning stoves

We prefer someone with experience in this area. You need to be organised, use your time effectively, be conscientious and able to work independently. Scott wants to be able to give his 'right-hand' man/woman a job and know they have the skills and experience to get on by themselves.
We also need someone prepared to work outside in all but the most awful weather - we can supply waterproof clothing however it would be best if you brought your own boots.

SATURDAYS - ALL WORKAWAYERS
Saturday is our very busy day. We have to get all the guest accommodation ready for incoming guests in quite a short time.
You need to learn the cleaning routine.
We hold 4* from Visit Britain, so its very important that the guest accommodation is cleaned to a high standard.

TERMS AND CONDITIONS
25hrs per week
Monday - Friday 9am start
Saturday 10am start
Days off Thursday and Sunday

We'd like to hear from appropriately qualified and experienced WorkAwayers who are able to stay between 4 - 12 weeks. However, we always start with a 1 week trial period...good for us all.

Sorry, but we can't accept WorkAwayers under 21

English, reasonable French & German, some Japanese & Arabic

YOUR ACCOMMODATION- photos below We provide lovely accommodation on the top floor of the main family house (stunning views across the Fells) and shared use of one bathroom. We do have Wi-Fi throughout the house however bandwidth is not great in Keswick. We have 2 living rooms downstairs which you are really welcome to spend your free time, except when we have events running in the house, then you can only use the back sitting room. We offer three vegetarian meals a day. We do eat dairy, fish & eggs. We like WorkAways to eat the same food at the same time as us. You can make tea / coffee / cordial anytime you want. We usually have homemade biscuits & cake available for snacks as well as fresh fruit. We do expect you to help prepare meals, lay the table and clear-up after meals. In addition we do expect WorkAways to ensure they don't create more cleaning/tidying...we already have 4 kids at home and don't need anymore to look after! We hope that you will try to only speak in English whilst around our family / guests, except in an emergency of-course!

The Hall is set in its own grounds, with garden, vegetable garden, woodland and river, very close to the centre of Keswick in Cumbria.

Keswick has a large international community who are very welcoming. However, YOU need to make an effort.

There are loads of groups & societies in Keswick (walking, knitting, climbing, singing, theatre....) most of which are free/very cheap to join. We really do expect our WorkAwayers to take full advantage of these opportunities, if you do you'll probably find you never want to leave!

We have maps, bikes, canoes etc you are welcome to use while you are here.


PLEASE NOTE: We will only communicate via WorkAway. It is much easier for us to keep track of requests and communication through the WorkAway website.